Standing at the Threshold

Am I standing at the threshold? Over the past week, and beyond, we have been surrounded by "binijimapbat"--finishing. There were two funerals here in Barunga, and a friend of ours is currently suffering through cancer with only a short time left here on earth.
This past week as I've sat with our friend and his family and as I've witnessed the funerals, it serves to remind me that our time here is short. Before we know it, we will be gone. Sometimes I live my life with the thought, "Oh, I've got time. I've got plenty of time." But in reality, we don't know how much time we've got left. It was only a little over a year ago that I met Silas, and he was a healthy man, who didn't seem to have any health troubles. He went to work each day, came home, interacted with family, went to bed and started it all over the next day. Now, things have changed considerably. He's currently standing at the threshold of heaven, and he could be crossing over any day now.

I don't have cancer. I'm not even feeling sick today. But as I hear the mourning wails, as I see the tears flowing freely from the eyes of family and friends, I have to think, "Perhaps today? Perhaps soon I will be standing in the presence of the Lord?" Do I live my life as though I'm standing at the threshold of heaven?

"As for man his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children-- with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts."
Psalm 103:15-18

Thanksgiving Time In Townsville

We had an excellent Thankgiving!

We visited a "tourist-y" place for the fun of holding exotic animals. The guide asked if anyone wanted to hold this 1 1/2 meter python, and of all the people, CAMERON was the first to volunteer (and right away at that!). A three year old with no fear. :)

Cheri was the "tree" and all the rest of us got to pet the koala. It felt like an interesting mix between a sheep and a rabbit.

Here's a pic of Alice with her new haircut(which she BEGGED for)! She's standing with Jessica, the oldest daughter of the friends we stayed with. All the kids really had a fun time and played well together. :)
Cheri and I were also blessed to go on two dates together! One to the movies, and one to the GREAT BARRIER REEF, to snorkel! It was a lot of fun, and I saw a shark twice while I was snorkeling. The guide said, "There's a shark under the boat. But don't worry, it's just a white-tipped-reef shark." Since he didn't seem worried, I wasn't either...but I kept my eye on that shark while I swam!

And, here's me and my beautiful bride, both trying not to "feed the fish". It was a rough ride out to the reef, but still an excellent time. :) God's creation is amazing, and to think it's fallen! I can't wait to get to heaven, to see things as they were meant to be.
We also got to visit a really cool "Great Barrier Reef" aquarium with the kids. Bethy loved standing with all the "Nemo" fish. :)
Thanks for all your prayers for us as we traveled and had a bit of a rest after a lot of work. It was a huge blessing.

Barunga Discipleship Course Pic Journal

Barunga SMBG!!

Jocelyn(L) and Mavis(R) were just 2 of the ladies who came for the course.



This was the "Mango Tree Chapel" :) It was great to fellowship and study God's Word together on Sunday.



Here we are motioning how God made the sun (and the rest) to help the kids remember, and give the ladies ideas for how they can share with their families(children) and communities.

Brian was a man who came for the course on the days when he was well enough. He is a new believer! PRAISE GOD! :)

The 1st day was the biggest, and it was a blessing to see so many ladies want to get into God's Word.

Picture News! :)

Alice and Bethany, can you name that fruit?

Sorry about the blurryness!! The kids wanted a ride around the block. :) (L to R Bethany, Samara, Cameron, Alice)

The BEST visitors I had at the hospital!

Cam-the-man with me at the hospital!

Cam and the tree frog who found him at the playground!

Happy 5th Birthday, Bethany! Check out those ears!!

News News News!!

Dear Friends,
In the last month much has happened. Thank you so much for all your prayers for our family and the ministry here in Australia. In a nutshell:
1. Lived at the Royal Darwin Hospital for 4 days.
2. Set up the flat downstairs (which is now housing some guests for 10 days!)
3. Started a new discipleship course here in Barunga. :)


1. As many of you already knew, I've been a bit under the weather. To be specific, I had a very nasty boil under my arm, which got infected. It hurt so bad I couldn't move without screaming. I went to the Katherine Hospital (80 km from Barunga...about an hour drive) to have it looked at. They saw me, and immediately said I needed to go to Darwin, right away.
I had been to the Darwin Emergency Room before, with Alice when we first moved here. We sat there and waited for about 6 hours to be seen. I was expecting the same treatment for this.
However, that was not to be. We arrived at the Darwin Hospital at 12AM, I handed them the paperwork from Katherine that had a note on it, "semi-urgent". Within one hour, I was in the operating room. As I was walking through the doors to be seen by the triage nurse, I heard the receptionist/nurse say, "Put him on the fast track." LOL They don't mess around.
So, the next 4 days were spent recovering from the infected boil, with an IV antibiotic. When they found the actual antibiotic that would kill my staph infection, I started taking the pill form, and was allowed to go home.
I found out I'm "special". I have MRSA or as they call it "golden staph". Something I found humorous is that it's usually found on the insides of doctor's noses! But, the thing is, this sort of infection is resistant to many kinds of antibiotics.
HOWEVER! I'm finished with the antibiotics now, and my arm seems to be healing quite nicely. Continued prayer is very appreciated. :)

2. God has blessed us with a downstairs which was originally the main house. We have finally got it semi-put together, with beds and a clean bathroom, and rugs(if Cheri were writing this, I'm sure there would be a longer list...). We are currently hosting three folks, 2 of whom are sleeping in the downstairs flat! Praise the Lord!

3. Sabi Mowa Blanga Godwei (Know More About God's Way) Discipleship course is now under way in Barunga. Tonight was the first meeting, and it went fairly well. Our team leader (Margaret) taught on Matthew 7 the foolish and wise builders. At one point the question turned to trials, and hard things in life. One of the ladies has a son who is suffering from cancer.
One of the men who is helping with this workshop just lost his 15 year old daughter to a rare form of cancer. He was able to give encouragement and Scripture verses that had encouraged his daughter in the middle of all the suffering. After talking through some of it, she asked me(Jared) to take her home, that she felt a bit sad, and tired.
When I dropped her off, I was blessed to sit down with her son and talk/pray/ read God's Word with him, and to encourage him. God gave me the opportunity to encourage him. Please pray with me for their family. The man's name(with cancer) is Silas. He is a new believer(as of June) and this is a huge trial.
Tomorrow, SMBG continues, and for another 7 days after that. Please pray for our team, as we study God's Word with the folks in Barunga, that we would be learners and not just teachers. :)


Thank you all so much for your prayers and support of our family as we serve here in Australia. You are all a huge blessing to us, and we could NOT do this without your faithfulness in prayer and support. God bless! -Jared

40

Today was an opportunity to serve. Here's a few pics. :)




Cheri was excellent. She made 3 salads, set the food up, made sure there was food for the BBQ for me to cook up. She also made a delicious homemade peanutbutter swirl cake. She wasn't expecting 40 people, but 30. She's amazing. There was a good mix of people: YWAM team, church ladies, all the grandkids... and our family.
Everyone was well fed, and it worked out just fine. The YWAM team sang 2 Kriol Scripture songs, which I put the music to. :) The Church ladies were blessed, and it was neat to be able to open our home to them, and after they all left, we took a nap! :)
Thank you for your continual prayers for our family. You're all a big blessing.

Baptism and Communion! :)

Today has been an excellent and very encouraging day. We shared communion as a church family for the first time since moving here to Barunga (over a year ago). Then, we studied more about baptism during the service. After the service, during "hotwethataim"(the hot part of the day), we went down to the river, and 2 ladies were baptized! PRAISE THE LORD! Today has been a big blessing and encouragement to us all. Here are some pictures and a video, so you can join in and praise the Lord with us! :)

Mari(R) has had the desire to be baptized for a long time, and today was the day! :)

After the baptisms there was singing, and "brabli gudbinji"! (Very good stomachs, great joy).

The kids also seemed to enjoy it, they had a bogi(swim) after the baptisms.

After the baptism service, we came back to our house and had a BBQ and good fellowship!

Three of the ladies: Jocelyn(L front), Queenie (R Front) and Mari (middle back)

Here is Chiyo's baptism. She is the wife of Silas, Queenie's oldest son. She is also a new believer. Praise the Lord!!

Pineapple Juice and a Torn Peice of Bread

At the beginning of the Sunday service, Cheri asked Queenie if the ladies share communion, and we all agreed it was very important, but we didn't mention it after starting the Bible reading. After we had read through different sections of Job and talked, we were closing in prayer. The children often come in and out of the service since it's aimed at adults. They usually play or color a picture.

While we were praying, Alice and Bethany came in, carrying a jug of pineapple juice, and they had a plate with a torn peice of bread on it! Alice also walked around to each of us, and pressed a 5 or 10 cent coin into our hands.
She said, "This is for offering." We don't usually take offering at the church here, and it has been discussed by all the ladies. They agree it's important, but as of yet we haven't been collecting an offering. Alice caught the importance of it, and took initiative! She also realized the importance of communion for the Church, and tried to implement that as well. She couldn't find grape juice, so pineapple would do, and she opened a loaf of bread from the house, and took a slice of it to the church. What a girl! She really wanted to have communion, but we decided to wait until all of the ladies (or most of them) were able to be there. We decided to have communion this coming Sunday. Praise the Lord!

Sunday Service

Yesterday at church we had a very small group because most of the church ladies were sick and couldn't make it. :( However, it gave us time to sit and talk one on one with Queenie, whose son has cancer, and Queenie's daughter-in-law. Queenie asked us about what the Bible says about sickness, and about how we should respond, and about healing. That was a question we were able to look at in Scripture together. She said, "What about that man in the Bible who had sores all over his body?" So, we looked at Job, and did a "sprint through the book of Job". We looked at the beginning of the book, when Satan asked God if he could harm Job's family, and Job. We looked at Job's response to his suffering, we talked a bit about his 3 friends, and then we read what God's response was to Job. My prayer is that it was helpful, and encouraging to Queenie and her family. It seemed to be, as she said, "You see? This is the kind of thing people need to hear. They already know Jesus died for their sins. But if we share with them about this..." it will help them understand.

I will be working on a study of suffering, sickness, and God's purposes for them in Kriol. Please pray for me as I work through these things. I want to be a blessing to Queenie and her family, as well as others who are going through times of sickness and trial. We currently have materials about sickness and death in Kriol, so I'll be looking over those things as well. Thank you for your prayers!!

Family Fun!!

Upon returning from a weekly trip to Katherine for groceries, the real fun began! The kids wanted to show me a few things.

First, "Lolly Land"...


Check out the top of the bed...


Then we got to play Yahtzee, and Bethany WHOOPED us. She got 2 Yahtzees, AND the bonus on the top score! Alice wrote everyone's names at the top. She sounded out Cameron by herself.

It was a fun night. Weekends are a blessing. We hope you enjoy your family too!

Cheri, Cheri, ..... "How does your garden grow?"

We have officially planted a garden. We don't know what will become of it, but we prayed for it!
Here's a few pictures, and as it grows, we'll keep posting pics. :)

Alice standing next to the "big" garden!

Bethany with her friends, Paddy(Left) and Sheila (center). They are standing next to the cement double-sink-turned-planter. We have beans and peas growing there now--no veggies yet, but we've got a start!

As I was looking in the garden today (a couple of weeks after planting) here is what I saw!!Bethy's pointing at the carrot sprouts!

Now she's pointing at the Bell Pepper plant we just discovered today! :)

"Peoples Is Peoples, ya? Peoples is Peoples." Part 2

This is Jocelyn(on Left) and Rachel (R). Jocelyn is one of the main church leaders in Barunga. She was involved in the Kriol Baibul translation, and translated many of the Psalms. A couple of days ago she was helping me to translate a Bible lesson into Kriol. She's a huge blessing. The kids(Alice, Bethany and Cameron) call her "Nana Jocelyn". In the kinship system, she is my(Jared's) sister. Rachel is one of our team members (along with John and Jenna!). It has been great to get to know both of these ladies in the past year.

Margaret(center) and Queenie(right) are two of the ladies in the community who we have been getting to know better. Queenie is one of the church ladies. She is also an EXCELLENT storyteller and speaks several different languages, including English, Kriol, Maili, and Jawoyn.

Margaret is our "fearless team leader"! But we better not call her "boss"! She is a blessing and has been a help to us as we learn and adjust to the Aussie culture, and indigenous culture as well. She was involved in the Kriol Baibul translation for close to 20 years!

AND OF COURSE THE BIGININI!
In Barunga, there is never a shortage of children. Alice, Bethany and Cameron frequently have friends over. Here we had a "bigmob biginini"(large group of kids) but usually we only have "wanbala" or "dubala" at our house at a time.

If you are interested in meeting more people from this area, leave a note on this blog, or on Facebook. Thank you SO MUCH for your prayers and support as we continue to work here in Barunga and beyond. You are all a blessing to our family.

Peoples is peoples, ya? Peoples is peoples. (Part 1)

That is one of my favorite quotes from "Muppets Take Manhattan" and it brings me to my favorite part of being here in Australia: PEOPLES! We have had the opportunity to sit with and get to know many people from all over the place, from the folks in Barunga to a cowboy from Queensland. I love sitting down with people and simply hearing parts of their story, and they seem to be willing to share with me! :)



I met Kevin in Western Australia at a rodeo. He rides cutting horses. It was his first competition, and he was a bit nervous. He's originally from Queensland, and did not grow up on a farm. He just wanted to be a cowboy. He let me know how the competition works. It was neat to talk with him.

John and Esther are Korean believers who are ministering at an RV park in Kunnunurra, WA (Western Australia). They were really great with our family, and put up with my Korean (the TEENY TINY bit I know!)

John and Jenna! These two are part of the Kriol team, and they have been a huge blessing to me. They have been very understanding of the American's cultural ways, and silly personality. They are currently stationed down south in Victoria, and will be moving up here in November(hopefully!)

Ewan and his wife Cathy were an encouragement to me. He is a new believer in Weemol, a community about 4 hours drive from Barunga. He invited our team to his house to share his testimony. He was very thankful for the teaching and thanked us for giving him "tools to share his faith" with his family.

Mick-o! Mick and his family hosted our team in their backyard while we were in Weemol. He is standing next to a freshly shot bullagi (bull) which he shared with our team for several GREAT meals. He, his wife and family were a big blessing to us. As you could guess by the photo, he's got a great sense of humor, too!

An Anniversary well spent.

Saturday, the 20th of August was our one-year anniversary of living in Barunga, so we decided to celebrate by swimming at the Mataranka Thermal Pool, about 80 kms away. W'e had a great time swimming together, and then enjoyed a lovely picnic dinner of ham & cheese sandwiches. When we were ready to leave, it was dark. Jared's key had come off of his key-chain because it broke, and was unable to be put back on. So we were holding a loose key. I (Cheri) put the key into our blue swim-bag in order to keep it safe, and then when we got to the car, the key was gone! We had no idea where it could be. We went back to the eating place, looked around the dinner tables and couldn't find it anywhere. A lady was kind enough to let us borrow her flashlight to go back to the swimming area, and prayerfully, find the key. We searched up and down the path and at the swimming place, and the key was nowhere to be found, even after many silent prayers and a few spoken ones as well. Jared went with two men back to the car to try and break in, in hopes that I had my key in my purse, which was in the car. While he was gone, the kids and I were standing near the campfire by the tables. Bethany somehow managed to fall on some concrete steps right there, and immediately started crying quite loud. When I went to her, I saw quite a bit of blood coming out of her mouth and a huge scrape on her chin. Poor girl! So we went down to the bathrooms where I helped Bethany to spit and drink water. Some kind ladies came and gave Bethany a nice cold glass of water, as well as some numbing cream for the pain on her chin, and some paw-paw cream for it as well. Then they asked the other kids if they were hungry, and Alice said "yes," even though we had recently eaten -- and a little while later they came back with a big plate-ful of french fries, called "chips," freshly made. It was great having such kind people looking out for us in our time of need. Since my key was not to be found in the car, we realized we were stranded in Mataranka for the night, so we went to book a room. They are pretty pricey, so we asked if we could have a dorm room that backpackers use -- and the one that would have fit our family, they couldn't find the key for. So they gave us a nice cabin to use for a discounted price. Stil $115, but much cheaper than it would have been otherwise. That was a blessing :) Poor kids didn't get to bed until 10 pm, after we found our way to the cabin in the dark (since we weren't planning on "camping" we hadn't packed any flashlights ourselves, nor did we have changes of clothes or anything -- us girls only had our swimsuits, with some clothes over them!) But praise the Lord we had a good place to stay the night, instead of being in the car for a night, or something like that. Poor Bethany woke up quite a few times, crying out in pain from her mouth injuries. We didn't have any pain medication, so all we could do was try to comfort her and give her a drink of water. Alice woke up a couple of times too, with a headache. We were all cold, as the cabin had enough beds but no blankets for the kids beds -- one extra for us, which Bethany was allotted, and on Alice and Cameron we put a towel each. I do not understand why the establishment did not provide adequate blankets. Anyway, by the morning the kids had migrated over to be with Jared & myself in bed, so we brought Bethany's blanket to put on top, and that provided a little extra warmth for us all. :) One nice thing was that there was a Gideon's Bible in the room, -- very nice since we hadn't brought one (as we weren't planning on staying the night). This morning we prayed again for our key to be returned to us, and first went to the office. The key was there! Someone had turned it in! We believe that God is sovereign, and there must have been a reason He did not allow us to find the key the night before. Why? We have no clue. But it was an easy find this morning, praise Him! So to celebrate, we went swimming again and are now back at home, and Jared is currently making pizza. No matter what happens, even if life makes you feel helpless and like you may be stranded like we were, remember Isaiah 26:3-4: "You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You. Trust in the LORD forever, for in YAH, the LORD, is everlasting strength." I love those verses, specifically verse 3, because it's a promise and has proved true in my life that no matter the situation, as I trust in Him, He gives me peace. Also, the more well-known verses found in Philippians 4:6-7: "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

Pics from our trip "out west" to the Kimberley!

Our Trip to the Kimberley was both fun, and trying at times. :) We saw a lot of really cool stuff, like the "mini Great Wall of China". One evening, driving to one of the cities along the way, Hall's Creek, Cheri said, "Jared, I didn't know this road was corrugated." I said, "It's not, Cheri Dear. Pull over."


By God's grace, a man and his wife who had just driven through the Australian desert drove past us. They helped me (Jared) change the tire, just after I had prayed, "Lord, please help me do this." and Cheri had prayed, "Lord, please send help for Jared." The couple helped us change the tire, and he had a pump to get air in the spare tire. PRAISE GOD!While we were in the Kimberley, Alice had her 6th birthday at a swimming pool, with friends from the camping area in Kununnura, where we spent 4 days for a Christian convention. It was a blessing.Margaret, our team leader, was able to present at the convention, and we were also able to make some new connections with pastors and Kriol speakers all along the way during the trip. And then...
And then we had another flat. (Bobala!) This time I was able to change it myself, but I left the car running, and the car battery died. (Double bobala!) We were about 50 km from the nearest town, and it was 8 pm, and dark. We had all our camping gear, but really didn't feel like camping on the road. So, we prayed as a family that God would send someone to help us jump the car. Within 5 minutes, a road train (a semi with 2 trailers) came down the road, and we flagged him down with our flashlight. I asked if he could give us a jump, but he didn't have his cables. ("Sorry, mate.") He then radioed another oncoming roadtrain, and that fellow could help us! So, with the help of 2 road trains, we were back on our way! Praise the Lord!


We were blessed to see the Bungle Bungles! These are sandstone "mini mountains" and are REALLY cool! What an awesome God we serve.

And, no trip would be complete without a third flat tire only 78 km from home. :) (I was getting pretty quick at changing flats by this time...but also tired.) It was 3:30 am.